San Francisco to cover transgender surgeries

Good news, everyone! (Bonus points if you read that in the voice of Professor Farnsworth.)

San Francisco, arguably the gayest city in the US — sorry to LA and Chicago, but has Armistead Maupin ever written a quintessential queer book series about you? No, no he hasn’t — is set to become the first city in the States to fully cover all transitional surgeries for transgender people. See? This is what happens when you get socialized healthcare: shit actually starts getting done.

The city’s Health Commission voted Tuesday to create a comprehensive program for treating transgender people experiencing mental distress because of the mismatch between their bodies and their gender identities. San Francisco already provides transgender residents with hormones, counseling and routine health services, but has stopped short of offering surgical interventions, Public Health Director Barbara Garcia said Thursday after the vote was announced.

The idea for a new program that included surgeries came out of conversations between public health officials and transgender rights advocates who wanted mastectomies, genital reconstructions and other surgeries that are recommended for some transgender people covered under San Francisco’s 5-year-old universal health care plan. [Source]

Well thank god for that. Seriously, can you imagine being forced to spend thousands of dollars just so you can live in your own body? Jesus . . . Well, good on them for being the first city down there to cover the cost.